O'Sullivan and Carter to contest snooker world championship

Ronnie O'Sullivan and Ali Carter will contest the final of the world professional snooker championship, a repeat of the 2008 final which O'Sullivan won.

The final of the world professional snooker championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, UK, will be between three-time winner Ronnie O'Sullivan and Ali Carter, as reported by Eurosport. O'Sullivan, nicknamed 'The Rocket' starts the final as the favorite against Carter, who goes by the moniker 'The Captain'.

To reach the final, O'Sullivan had victories over Peter Ebdon (10-4), Mark Williams (13-6), Neil Roberston (13-10) and, in the semi-final, Matthew Stevens 17-10. The only time that O'Sullivan was in trouble was during the first session of his quarter-final against Robertson where he trailed by 3 frames to 5.

Ronnie O'Sullivan has won the world championship three times (in 2001, 2004 and 2008). In addition, he was won all of snooker's major prizes (including the UK championship and the Masters). He is arguably the most naturally talented player in the sport's history, although his life-style and health issues have perhaps resulted in him not winning as many tournaments as his talent would suggest.

Ali Carter has not won any of the major tournaments, although he was won two ranking events (the 2009 Welsh Open and the 2010 Shanghai Masters).

O'Sullivan and Carter contest the 2008 world championship final which O'Sullivan won comfortably 18-8. This year, however, Carter has shown good form and the contest may well be closer. However, the BBC report on O'Sullivan's semi-final match suggests he is in impressive form.

According to World Snooker, Carter said on reaching the final " "I'm not just happy being in the final. We'll see what happens. I feel totally different to the way I did four years ago. I was mentally knackered then. I wasn't getting to bed until about 3 in the morning."

The final will be played over two days (May 6 and 7) and the winner will be the first to win 18 frames. The prize money is £250,000 (approximately $404,000) for the champion and £125,000 (around $202,000) for the runner-up.